Exorcist- The Beginning Link

Father Lankester Merrin, haunted by his complicity in a Nazi massacre of villagers (the backstory from Schrader’s film is mostly retained), has abandoned the priesthood and works as an archaeologist. He is hired by a British colonial official to oversee a dig in the desert, where a perfectly intact 5th-century Byzantine church has been unearthed – a historical impossibility.

Merrin and his team enter the church, which is decorated with grotesque carvings and symbols of Pazuzu, a demon of the wind. The locals refuse to approach the site, believing it cursed. A young boy, Joseph, falls into a hidden chamber and becomes possessed. Merrin initially dismisses demonic possession, attributing Joseph’s symptoms to madness, but soon witnesses supernatural horrors: swarms of flies, mass hallucinations, a Nazi officer’s ghost, and the resurrection of dead soldiers. Exorcist- The Beginning